$46.83

That's how much it took to fill up my gas tank this weekend. I guess gas has come down a bit, but almost 50 bucks to fill up Sven? That's kind of crazy. The good news is that it was the first time I had to fill up the tank since May! Yep, the car diet has been working pretty well. I've driven to work maybe a handful of times this summer. Now, I wish I were saving alot of money doing this, but I'm paying for the metro myself. It's $3.70 per day. So roughly the cost of a gallon of gas. So I really need to give up my parking pass and get the company provided metro card instead. Then I think it will be worth it. So I'm going to cut the safety cord and give up my work parking place to see what the real cost is. Sure, I'm also saving some money on maintenance, wear and tear, etc, but still.

So I had to send a rather firm order to my father about anti-Obama emails. He's on this mailing list from his school that is pretty conservative and you just can't believe the lies and crap he was forwarding to me. And some of it is just so wrong it's silly. Like a quick Google search disproves half of this crap. I told him that if he wanted to send me emails that explains why he's for McCain, then bring them on. But I'll pass on the personal attacks, the lies, and the propoganda.

Corey Hart - The Singles?

I'm having some built-in bookshelves built in my condo and so I needed to clean out the little glass shelves where the built-ins will go. The little glass shelves that hold the hundreds of CDs I own that I rarely, if ever, listen to. So I put then all in a suitcase and will dust them off and put them back into the new bookshelves once they are built. But then I started thinking, hmm, I wonder if I should burn the one or two songs I like from each CD to my PC and then junk the CD. I grabbed a handful of CDs and what did I get? The Best of Howard Jones. Go West - The Hits. The Best of Don Henley. And Corey Hart - The Singles.

Really? Corey Hart - The Singles. As in plural? I was intrigued so I popped in the CD and started to listen to it. So I will admit that I recognized two or three songs. So yes, I guess there is a plural there. The songs are burned, and the CD is trash.

Here's an interesting remix of Corey Hart's bit hit:

What He Said!

From CNN's Jack Cafferty:

It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries.....

One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.

Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?

John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.

He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

Happy Birthday Esther!

So it was Esther's birthday yesterday. Happy 5-0 Madge! So a small group of us joined the rest of the gays and went to Town to celebrate with a night we affectionately call, Madonna-rama! All Madge, all night, remixed to your hearts content. Superlawyer and MailMan came in from suburbia to join MuseumMan and I get into the groove at Town. It was amazing. Packed with all of the pretty people who I tried to ignore, I focused on the music and just had the best time. When I go out to clubs, I'm lucky if I know 2 or 3 of the songs. Especially with the gays into the techno-trance-house type music which is pretty much the perma-beat type stuff. So it's nice to actually know the songs, and then to know the words to the songs. Again, I just had a blast, thought I will say that towards the end I was starting to loose my voice.

Oh and apparently I'm not really old. According to Madge, even though she's 50, she's really onl 36? So if 40 is the new 30, then 50 is the new 36? Hmm, not sure I buy it.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Ricky.

Manhunt x 2

So it's all over the gay-blogosphere about how the owner of Manhunt gave $2300 to the McCain campaign. Nary a word on any of MSM outlets, but who really wants to hear about McCain taking money from a gay man who has made MILLIONS off of gay sex. It's all don't ask, don't tell. And even when told, ignore it.

Now, I understand (but don't agree) with Log Cabin Republican types who are more focused on economic and national security issues over basic human rights for their own brothers and sisters (sorry, gotta keep the sarcasm down a bit). But I only buy that crap (damn, there I go again), if the Republican party actually stood for sound fiscal policies and non-interventionalist type foreign party. But they don't! When will these people wake up and small the overpowering stench of a colossal national debt combined with a rotting economy caused by years of cronyism, hand outs to wall street, and just plain incompetence? Or are we too busy focusing on the next war to fight.

Back to the Manhunt loser. Apparently he's more insulted that someone called him a "liberal Republican." It's not the republican part that he doesn't like, it's the "liberal" part. Ugh! How has the term liberal gotten such a bad reputation. I would think "conservative" would be worse. The Anonymous Liberal has a great quote on his blog: "The essence of the Liberal outlook lies not in what opinions are held, but in how they are held: instead of being held dogmatically, they are held tentatively, and with a consciousness that new evidence may at any moment lead to their abandonment." I love that quote. And I think that really captures a lot of my perspective. I am passionate about certain things, but that doesn't mean that I won't be wrong at times (and frequently am), but it's the inability to change your mind, to acknowledge you are wrong, to cling to clearly incorrect statements or position when presented with facts and evidence that really just kills me. And why we need to show the current administration to the door. Asap!

So changing subjects, I'm on a bit of a manhunt myself this weekend. I finally got around to updating my profile on Match.com. Of course, as soon as I did that, I got really busy at work again. But I did manage to send an email to someone. Who has not responded. C'est la vie. However, I will say that my personal approach is that if someone winks at me and I don't think we are a good match I will ignore them. It's wink. They clicked a button. Big whoop. But if someone actually sent me an email that showed any type of thought or effort, I will reply to them. Even if it's to say that I don't think we are a good match. I think that's just a common courtesy thing and it takes all of 2 minutes to do. Anyhoo . . . .

So I got a couple of winks and an email from some guys. The winks, hmm, I wasn't sure about them. The pics were not that good. I suspected they were old. And there wasn't a lot in their profiles to help me figure out why they winked at me. The email was interesting. A fellow traveler who has been around the world. He's got potential I think. The plan for this weekend: Dinner with Wink#1 on Friday. Lunch with Wink#2 on Saturday. And then lunch with Email guy on Sunday. So three dates, in three days. Hmm, I've never thought of myself as a player. Oh, that's right. Because I'm not.

Cell Free, Paris, and Assimilation

My great IT guys at work got me a new cell phone.

And activated it.

When I wasn't in the office.

Killing my existing phone.

So I'm cell phone free.

Till I pick up the new one tomorrow.

How do people live like this?

What do I do now?

Oh, so totally loving the Paris Hilton ad. Just too funny. But one of the even funnier things I read about it was, "Look, yes it was scripted, yes she's just speaking the words and probably doesn't understand it really. But McCain's ads are scripted. He's just speaking the words. And he probably doesn't understand it either. But atleast she *sounds* like she does. Oddly enough this whole little episode makes me like her just a little bit.

Well I'm slowly becoming like one of the hordes of business men (and women) who I see every day when I commute to work. I've ditched my very nice looking, but not comfortable dress shoes for these faux leather sneakers that look like loafers. They are passable I guess. And I'm plugged in to my iPod so I can ignore the homeless and the crazies. And I finally broke down and bought a roller bag for work. Look, I like the backpack. It's a young look, that says, "Sure I'm hauling my laptop home every night so I can do even more work, but secretly I'm kind of cool." But it's killing me. Add the backpack to the heat and humidity of August and it's not a good combination. I'm DRENCHED by the time I get to the metro. It's just ugly. So I got a small little roller bag. Yes, I know, another obstacle for my fellow commuters. Sorry. Deal with it.

Oh, and is "I'll see you at the debate, bitches!" really that popular?

Sunset @ Herring Cove

Thursday, 10 July, 820PM, Herring Cove, Ptown, MA.

PTown Redux: Da Beach and Da Bears

Hello World! So yes I am alive, but once I got back from Ptown I just completely lost control of my life. So I'm back. Ish. You know how it is.

Ptown. Wow. I just looked at my pictures and I want to go back. NOW! And I'm seriously thinking about ways to go back next summer, so the whole summer! But first the rest of the story.

So Thursday was supposed to be my beach day. I want to go late, miss T, and then stay for sunset. Everyone talks about how the air and the light up there is special because the land is surrounded by water on three sides and I completely agree. Anyways, I spent the morning walking around taking some pictures in town, and then did some shopping. Mostly window shopping, but I did need to bring back some gifts. Finally around 230ish I headed to the beach. It was the usual trek across the tidal flats until I got to "my spot" and proceeded to bake. The beach was not that crowded, but there were some people near by. So I read for a bit, went for a swim, etc. And then I'm like, wait, what time is sunset? 8PMish. And it's only 530PM? Wow. Yeah, so I really should have come early, laid out, then gone back into town for a late lunch, nap, etc and then come back around 630ish, but I wasn't thinking. But I did get some great photos as the beach started to empty out and people started making their way back into town. I had a mission, so I was staying. And it was so worth it. The sunset was just amazing and reminded me of why I love it in Ptown. It's just so beautiful. I snapped away as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. It was clear so the sunset was spectacular. There was one big puffy cloud that seemed to capture all of the light and slowly changed color as the sun sank. In addition to just being amazed by the overwhelming beauty of the sunset, I was alone, all alone on the beach. It was quite the surreal feeling to be witness to this gorgeous sunset as the waves gently broke along the beach. With my headphones on, I danced along the beach a bit, just a little crazy I know, but in a good way. I stopped to take more photos and then as the dusk started to come, I knew it was time to leave. I was not looking forward to crossing the tidal flats, now at near high tide, in the dark. As I crossed over the dune, I swear I saw a fox or a wolf, but it saw me and quickly trotted away. The trek back across the tidal flats wasn't bad and there was enough light from the moon to guide my steps. I have to say that spending sunset at the beach was probably one of my all time highlights at Ptown.

I missed the Solid Gold T at the Boatslip on Thursday, but I could tell you that the Bears were starting to arrive by that time. Thursday night and then definitely on Friday the town started to fill up with the large and hirsute. Now, it's kind of funny, but I think the town likes bear week more than the circuit party week. The only thing the party boi's do is drink water and dance. The bears like to drink and they like to eat. So it's definitely good for business. Plus, the bears are just nice. There's very little attitude with the bears. By Friday's T dance, I was feeling young and thin! And I was sporting a relatively weak goat-tee, but atleast I was trying! Friday and Saturday slipped by too quickly. I do remember the Hat Sisters arriving at the T and the crowd roaring their approval. They are quite the celebrities in Ptown. Speaking of celebrities, DC's own Bob Mould and Rich Morel were in the house in preparation for a special Blow Off for Bear Week. And I did see some of the DC A-list bears as well. So it was a great way to end my time in Ptown.

As I boarded the ferry back to reality on Sunday AM, I thought back about the really great week I had. I read 4 new books, which is one of my goals. I had spent some time doing some real thinking about life, etc. And I had just one of the most relaxing weeks. It really was just the best time.

On A Day Like Today . . . . . .

You never want to see the sun go down! (Yes it's a Bryan Adam's song, but I prefer the techno version, natch!).

OMG! (as the kids say) I'm just having an AMAZING time here in Ptown. Unless I get hit by a car, this will probably rank up there as one of the best vacations I've had in a long time. For example, take yesterday . . . .

I got up and wandered over to Frappo66 for breakfast and then plugged in my laptop to look at some work email, check the blogs, etc. Afterwards, I packed up and headed to the beach around 1030. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the breeze felt amazing as I biked to the trail head. I popped my headphones on and started to hike across the tidal flats listening to my tunes. It's a 15-20 minute hike across the flats (when there is little/no water), and without the breeze it would have been brutal, but with the breeze it felt amazing. I make my way to the dune ridge that separates the tidal flats from the beach and the ocean. Climb up and over the dunes and find my spot on the beach. I've been going to a certain spot all week where I lay down the blue bomber (my old USNA breadspread), slather on the sunscreen, and then lay down to soak in the sun as the wind races by. Again, without the wind, I would have melted to death, but the breeze kept it cool, and kept the bugs away. The winds also helped kick up the surf. The usual gentle ocean waves slowly rolling onto the beach were gone, replaced by white caps and decent size waves crashing onto the beach with a dull roar. After several changes of position (back, stomach, back, stomach), I get up and head into the water. I've been brave this trip and every day I've gone into the bracing cold water of the North Atlantic. It still stung a bit, but I was more worried about not getting bowled over by the crashing waves. I made my way past the break and then played that game where you jump up as the wave approaches so you float above the crest to keep your head dry. Soo much fun and I didn't even mind the cold water. I slowly trudge out of the surf and make my way to my spot collapsing and letting the sun warm me up and dry me off. It felt so go to be out there on the beach that I stayed out there till almost 3PM. Then it was time for the hike back across the flats, the bike ride into town, grabbing a sandwich for lunch, a quick shower and change and then T-dance. Well at the T dance they were goingf to be filming an episode of Samantha Brown's Passport to Great Weekends. And her guide for Ptown was none other than Ms. Richfiled 1981. Luv her! So there was a little bit of fun and excitement to the T dance in addition to the great music.

Oh, t-shirt update:
- Do Me, Not Meth.
- The Only Thing I Recycle Is Boys
- Pride Ruins Most Relationships

Then after T, I rested a bit and then went to see a show. I went to see Jackie Beat. And she was hilarious! Just too funny. After that, it was time to go out again.

So almost a perfect day.

Today I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm going to go to the beach late and stay for sunset. I've never done that before so I'm looking forward to it. It means I've got to give up the T Dance, but that's the price I'll have to pay. I've already done my gift shopping and today I went out and bought a whole bunch of age inappropriate clothing. Of course, I keep getting told that I look like I'm barely 30 (which I must thank good lighting for!), so maybe it's not that age inappropriate.

Oh, here's a song from T-dance that I love:

Home Again

It happened again. Oh the flight up to Boston was fine. Caught the water taxi. Got on the ferry. Opened up the laptop and started doing work. I've got a ton of things to do this week despite the fact that I'll be in Ptown. But the seas were a bit rough and after awhile trying to do work on the laptop wasn't going to happen. So I closed the laptop and went up front, to the outside deck. As the wind whipped around me on a sunny summer afternoon, as I held on the metal bar for dear life as the deck bounced up and down and all around, as I watched the families, and couples (gay and straight), and everyone else strain their eyes to catch the first glimpse of Ptown, I felt all of my dreary, boring, repetitive life drain away. All of my cares and worries just blew away, forced out of my mind as the wind screamed around me. I've felt it before, but it feels new every time. For some reason coming to Ptown feels like coming home. And as that feeling started to spread throughout my body, I started to smile. I started to bounce with the rolling deck. I started to turn my face to the sun and feel it's warm embrace. And it felt good.

I've already settled into my Ptown routine. Get up late (9ish), have a light breakfast. Then poolside (beach tomorrow!) at the Boatslip till about 3PM. A late lunch and a change of attire before the T-Dance. Dance until I'm dripping with sweat and *have* to take my shirt off at the T-Dance. Then it's back to my room for a shower and another change of attire. Then it's off to wander the streets and bars looking for love (or lust, or something in between). I do have some shows I want to go see. One by her. (totally NSFW but funny as hell!) Plus Ms. Ritchfield 1981!

Oh, porn star sighting #2. He was just hanging out on the street. I talked with the guys at my guest house and apparently he's in a show here, plus he works at the Gay Men's Clinic.

So the 4th here was great. DJ Mary Alice does an extended T Dance set and I think I'm now officially old/crippled, but it was just a blast. Lots of great songs! The fireworks were awesome also! Today all of the twinks should be leaving. The 4th of July weekend is the big SummerCamp circuit party here in Ptown. So lots of tweaked out twinks, plus a bunch of muscle marys sharing their weightlifting secrets and how many cycles of steriods they've done. Not really being judgemental, just a bit jealous. But they should all slowly slip out of town and then it will be quiet until the bears start to arrive next weekend. This really is the best week for me. I start off in circuit week feeling old and fat and then I end up in Bear Week feeling young and thin! Well, thin-ish!

Don't Panic! has closed, but I did see some great t-shirts:

- Gurl! You Ain't a Top! (actually I saw that in NYC last weekend)
- Think Long and Hard (great double entendree!)
- Please Let Me Know If I've Slept With You Before

Oh, so a question for general discussion: If the tatoo on the lower back of a girl is called a "tramp stamp", what's it called when it's on a gay guy? Calling it a tramp stamp would be redundant right? Discuss amongst yourselves!

Oh, and here's a song from that DJ Mary Alice played that I love!

Hawaii, DC, NYC, and Ptown

It's been a busy week for me.

The flight back to DC from Hawaii was okay. I upgrade to business class which made it bearable. Nothing like a 2 hour storm delay in Chicago to make your day. I left Hawaii @ 8PM on Friday and got back to my place @ 8PM on Saturday. Good times.

Sunday AM and I metro-ed to Union Station and caught one of the regional trains to NYC. Museum Man met me there and the first thing I did was find some cold medicine. I had started to get a runny nose and I could feel a sore throat coming. Again good times. NYC was fun. I rode the subway for the first time. It's pretty easy I guess. Dodging the rain (or attempting to atleast) we went down to the Pride Parade which was just insane. Even with the miserable weather it was just fabulous. So many people out, everyone having a good time. It was great. After the parade, we started making our way over to the piers, stopping by the Dugout for a quick beer. The Dugout is a bear bar I've heard about from Joe.My.God. It was packed. And in a bad way. We had one drink and the motored on. After walking through a very strange and loud crowd of young blatino lesbians and their admirers, we actually ran into Joe, also heading for the Pier Dance. The Pier Dance did rock! Lots of great music and lots of hot, hot, hot men. Oh, I saw my porn star "friend" again. Again, which is no surprise really. I think every A list gay in NYC was at the Pier Dance. The surprise guest was Jennifer Hudson and needless to say the gays were shrieking like little girls. She sang three songs including "I'm No Going" which really rocked the pier. We stayed for the fireworks which were pretty cool and then trekked into mid-town to find a late night bite to eat. After a taxi detour, we made our way to the Saint-At-Large party at it's *new* location! Apparently on Friday the cops had raided the original location and shut it down, so the producers of the even jumped through hoops to find a new space. And they did. A fabulous space that I thought they decorated pretty well. At 1230AM when we got there it was just getting started. Well after dancing on concrete for 5 hours, I needed a little rest, so we sat and listened to the music and watched the hot men for awhile. We did hear one good song, surprisingly by Mariah Carey. But then we left around 2AM when I decided that I did need a little sleep. And a little sleep is what I got as I woke up at 445AM to take the subway back to Penn Station to catch the 0605AM train back to DC.

So in addition to just being tired, I'm also sick as a dog at this point. I've got a full on cold, aches, pains, you name it. So my work week has been kind of crappy. I feel a bit better, but still . . .

Well I'm off to Ptown for my annual pilgrimage.

Here's the Mariah Carey song. Sort of mellow in a good trancy/loungey kind of way:

Renew

Hawaii has definitely changed since I lived here many years ago, but the magic is still there. Even though I've been working some long hours, I've still managed to make it to the beach for sunset. To watch the surfers, the tourists, the locals, etc. It really is amazing here.

I've got to say that my random choice of hotels was amazing. I picked a hotel that was close to where the other people on my trip were staying, and let me tell you, I lucked out. Hotel Renew is a small boutique, modern hotel just a half a block from the beach. It's very W-ish. So cool. And relatively affordable. If I have to come back here again, I'm definitely going to stay here. So very cool!

So I've got one day to lay on the beach. I did grab some beach time yesterday and it was nice to just veg and chill. I really needed that. Not looking forward to the flight from hell back to DC.

But, thanks to Joe.My.God, I've got tickets to the after pier party dance in NYC. Yes, after I arrive Saturday afternoon, I'm catching a train to NYC to attend the Pride Pier Dance. After the pier dance, then it's on the Champions Party.



Which ends at 6AM, which conveniently enough is when my train back to DC leaves. So I just won't sleep.

I Saw A Man

I saw a man walking on water.

Fifty yards off the beach, a low water wall broke the incoming waves creating a more gentle swimming area for the tourists who splashed in the water. With the sun starting to dip towards the horizon, I walked through the palm trees lining the shore feeling like I was entering a scene from a postcard. With each wave, a flow of water would gently pass over the water wall, creating a liquid path just inches above the surface of the ocean. And I saw a man walking on water.

I watched him as he walked along this liquid path, just above the surface of the ocean. No firm strides, but not quite a stroll either. As he walked, I saw the golden reflection of the setting sun became a shimmering, fiery, storm of light on the water.

I saw the man, walking on water, approach that storm, that fiery brilliant storm. As he walked, the light was so bright that I had to squint to see him. My eyes teared up a bit and I lost him for just a second in that fiery reflection on the water. And then I saw him on the other side. Walking on the water.

And I wanted to be that man.

It's Not My Time

So busy day today.

Too many meetings. As usual.

Not enough time to do real work. As Usual.

Always busy. Always on the move. As usual.

I bailed out of one meeting at noon so I could get some work done, grab lunch, and then be ready for my meeting at 1PM. As I was walking briskly up Wilson to go to Chop't for lunch, I look around at the people. People who are in my way. Look, I'm sorry but I don't have time to stroll down the street, or sit and talk over lunch. Kind of busy here, get out of the way. BTW, I *love* Chop't. The salad portions are kind of huge, that's the only complaint. Anyways, I ate lunch during my 1PM meeting of course.

So I'm going to Hawaii on Sunday. Yea me. But not really. The last trip to San Diego really wasn't that fun. I work all day, eat dinner and maybe go to the gym, and then I'm back in front of the laptop trying to keep up with everything that's going on back here in DC. And I got stuck in a middle seat on one of the long legs so it really was just not a good time and I wasn't thinking about getting on a plane again until July for Ptown (and really, the Boston shuttle is like an hour, so no big deal). And the thought of getting on a plane for 12 plus hours just really sucks my will to live. Plus I can only imagine how messed up I'm going to be from a time perspective.

Anyways . . . . so I'm watching VH1 on Sunday during that 2 hour block they play videos and they play the new song by 3 Doors Down "It's Not My Time". Which is some sort of rebellious song about how they aren't ready to die. Which is all well and good, but of course in my twisted mind I'm thinking, "When is it *my* time?" My time to be happy, to be living life, to be in love, and feel like I'm not just treading water?

So yes, I'm in one of THOSE moods these days. Gee, could it be work grinding me down, consuming all of my waking hours, stressed out and unable to find a way out of my downward spiral? BINGO!

At this point, I think I get one day in Hawaii to myself. Maybe I can chill a bit then.

Oh, so I started looking at all of these Brokeback Mountain mash ups on Youtube tonight. I think I like this one the best:

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

To all of those in California who can now marry the ones they love.

Live loud, love with your whole heart, and never give up on each other!

And yes I stole the video idea from Andrew:

Clouds drift away
when they see you
Rain wouldn't dare
to fall near you here
Miracles happen
when you're around
Somehow the grass is much greener
Rivers flow faster and cleaner
Being with you
no matter where
sunlight breaks through
and suddenly there's

A bluer sky
whenever you're around
You always bring
a bluer sky
a brighter day

Love me some PSB!

DC to San Diego and then back again

Yep, it's been a fun week or so. I really need to get better at updating the blog more frequently.

Let's see . . . . last Monday I had a super big meeting at the puzzle palace. Of course that's the day that Metro chokes big time. And did I mention it's swealtering. So I hop a cab to make my meeting. Afterwards, trying to get back to Rosslyn is a haze. The Metro guys is saying take a train to L'Enfant Plaza, change trains to Foggy Bottom, and then take a bus to Rosslyn. Um, no! Luckily I found a DoD bus that runs to Rosslyn, but still my commute home SUCKED beyond belief.

So for the past week, I've been off both of my diets. In San Diego I pretty much had to drive. But it was a rental, not my car, so I think I get some points. But i definitely don't get points for my food diet. Conferences just kill diets. Especially atkins because it's so carb heavy. Ugh. I dread getting on the scale tomorrow.

San Diego was fine. I guess there's a little golf game going on call the Open? Yikes, the hotel was just overrun with those people. No one famous, or alteast that I would know. But still. And while I do enjoy traveling for work, it's not really all that much fun anymore. I sit in a conference all day, and then I go back to the hotel, maybe hit the gym (and that's a maybe), eat dinner, and then do work till I go to sleep to try to catch up with everything going on back in DC.

The flight back from San Diego was great too. So it’s getting bumpy as we descend into DC. Coming in from the north, we pass over Rosslyn and I look down to see my building and our sign. I see the building, but I can’t read the sign. Uh oh. We’re too high. So either we’re going to drop like a stone to make the flight path, or we’re going to bail out. Sure enough, like a second later, the engines rev up and we’re banking hard out of the flight plan. Ugh. Not a good ride home.

I did get home in time to see the Pride Parade. As I was walking to a friend for dinner, I cut up 17th St to see how the festivities were coming. For big events like Pride, JR's will close off their dead end portion of Church St and make it a beer garden. It was already going strong, but as I approach, I see some gentlement at the corner yelling to anyone who will listen about the great evil that has befallen this city. Sigh. People like that make being a gay Christian hard. Can you please stop using the bible as a weapon? I don't think Jesus meant for you to use that way. But later during the rainy parade I saw something much better. Standing next to my group on New Hampshire was a family of Muslims who had come to watch the parade. The little boys (I'm guessing 10 and 6) were just too cute, the men were in jeans, while the women were wrapped head to toe in very colorful wraps. But they were all having a great time watching the parade and enjoying themselves despite the rain. So that was kind of nice to see.

I worked the church booth at the Pride Festival today which was fun. Then walked around with GreekBoi and MuseumMan. It's always good people watching at Pride. No judgement, but if you haven't been out of the house since last summer, or at the gym since 1999, you might want to re-think the harness and butless chaps. It was brutally hot and sunny and you're only going to get burned. And with SO much skin exposed, you're going to hate yourself later. On the other hand, the boi's from Nuwear were walking around almost naked and it was a very good thing. I swear, I start my diet tomorrow!

Diet Status x 2

So how's the car diet going? Not too bad. Yes I drove to WV for work on Monday, and then to the office on Thursday since I had a BD meeting in Fair Lakes, but I did walk/metro on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. So not too bad. A couple of lessons learned.

One: I really need to pay attention to the weather. I worked late on Tuesday and then had dinner with my customer. During dinner, it started to rain. So we sort of lingered over dinner until it slowed to a sprinkle. So we headed out and I walked up to the Metro only getting a little bit wet. When I got off the metro in DC and rode the escalators up, it was like I was entering monsoon season. Just torrential downpours. I huddled under the station entranceway protected from the rain with a couple of scared tourists, a businessman, and then three or four homeless people. When it looked like it was slowing down, I made a break for it. Now, it's like 7 blocks, so it's not really a "break". It's more like I started to hike. And not even a half a block later, down comes the rain again. So I quickly sprint down the block and scuttle into a CVS. I breakdown and buy an umbrella (ella, ella, ella) and the woman looks at me. "Is it really that bad out there?" Translation: wow, you're drenched. Thanks.

Two: Your iPod is your safety device. It allows your escape into your own make believe world where you don't have to talk to the large drunk man at the corner of 15th and K who is there every morning begging. It means you can ignore some of the more bizarre conversation on the metro. When you have your iPod in, you walk smartly, focused on some random distance ahead while the headphones block out any attempt to intrude on your life. It really is essential.

Three: Just like Paris, except it's not. Yes, now that I'm enjoying a much more personal urban lifestyle, I'm opening myself up to the wonders of the city. To include some of the not so wonderful smells of the city. Seriously, coming out of the McPherson Square metro on a hot, sunny day is a rank, rank, experience. The smell of rancid urine is almost nauseating. And when you are in Paris you'll get a whiff of something like this, but Washington DC just isn't Paris. And now that I'm thinking about it, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I guess it could be worse, we could have dog poop all over the place.

On Thursday when I did drive, I had to fill up my tank. $51. Ouch. It will be interesting to see if I can keep the number of days that I drive down to less than 5. That's my goal.

Oh, and I've started the Atkins Diet. Again. But I have lost over 5 pounds. So there's some progress.

Hillary gives her concession speech. I hope she does it right and really works to help unite the Democratic Party!

Know Hope!

Take a Bow

Does anyone else think Hillary is starting to sound like Bush?

Bush: We've made advances in the war, we're at a turning point, we're defeating the insurgents, the Al-Qaeda, the Shiites, the Sunnis. We just need to give the surge a chance. He's a master at moving the goal posts so he can continue to fight the war which is his legacy. But his legacy will the trillions of dollars we've spent and the countless lives ended or harmed by this unnecessary war.

Clinton: It's all about Iowa. We're going to fight in New Hampshire. We're going to win Super Tuesday. It's all about Pennslyvania. Indiana. West Virginia. We've won more votes. More primaries. We just need more time to fight for this election. She continues to move the goal posts because this is supposed to be her legacy. And in the end, her legacy will be the damage that she will do to the Democratic Party. How sad.

Please Hillary, Take a Bow:

But you put on quite a show
You really had me goin'
But now it's time to go
Curtains finally closin'
That was quite a show
Very entertainin'
But it's over now
Go on and take a bow

The Gays and the Gals

Saturday night I joined SuperLawyer, his BF, and his kids to go see Prince Caspian down in Gtown. As part of my new car diet, I decided to walk. It's a bit of a hike. Like almost 2 miles, but I figure the exercise would be good. Plus there is no good Metro for Gtown, so I would end up walking a lot anyways. One of the things I like about walking to Gtown is cutting down off of M St to walk along the canal. It really is cool. And just makes the walk a little bit more interesting.

So after leaving the canal path, I cut down one of the streets and I fall behind two women who are dressed to the nines. Love the dress, love the shoes, love it all. And I'm thinking it must be hard to walk down this steep cobblestone sidewalk in those high heels. There must be some sort of wedding reception or some party at the Washington Harbor that they are heading to. But no, they turn the corner and head to the theatres. And that's when it dawned on me. They are going to see "Sex and the City".

Yep, they were going to see a movie and they had dressed up in their best dresses and their favorite Manola Blahniks. And they weren't alone. There were TONS of women. All dressed up. Though I will say that I did see a number of unfortunate fashion choices. Now if they only served cosmos at the theatre, it would be a real party.

As I waited (and waited, and waited, and waited, etc) for Superlawyer and crowd to arrive, I had a great spot to people watch. And while I'm going to say that the crowd was about 80% women (it was showing on 3 screens and all but one 1145PM showing was sold out), the gay were out in force also. But we're much more subtle in our fashion choices, more utilitarian. So the pre-requisite skinny jeans and t-shirts that are just a little bit too tight. Usually an A&F shirt or some shirt with some bit of print on it, but off centered, of course. So yes we'll dress up to go see Carrie and the gals, but we'll be able to head over to Ultra-hip lounge or Juniors without looking out of place. Oh, and I can't begin to tell you how many air kisses I saw while I was standing there. Gays and gals alike.

Oh, Prince Caspian was good. Saw some good previews. Thumbs up.

Here's some vintage Belinda to close out. We had a tornado watch Saturday PM and we had quite a little storm: winds, lighting, thunder. I do love summer storms.

A Car Diet

So with Sven still in the shop, I've been pondering my transportation dilemma. Do I really need a car? If so, what kind do I get? Used or new? Agh! The mind boggles.

But I've been thinking about the first question the most. Do I really need a car? Most weekends I don't get into my car (except to go to the gym). During the week I go from my condo to Rosslyn for work and back. I do drive other places for work occasionally. But one of my customers is in San Diego (and I usually fly there) and the other has an office in Crystal City literally a two minute walk from the Metro stop. Sure I sometimes have to go other places, but could I either get a ride from someone else, or could I go with the Zipcar approach? I don't know. I think so.

So I'm thinking of going on a car diet. For the month of June, I'm not going to drive my car. Well, ish. It looks like I'm going up to WVA on Monday for work and then down to Pax River on Thursday. But those trips don't really count since in theory I could get a rental car for them and charge them back to my client. So what I really need to do is go through a whole month and see when do I feel I *have* to drive because of some external meeting or other reason. So I plan to keep a little log book to help me keep track of when I drive and why so I can analyze it later. Yes, I know, how lame-o, but it will help me make a decision.

If I did need a car a couple of times a month and don't think the Zipcar approach will work, then I'll readdress the replacement car problem.

Now I've identified two initial challenges that I need to work out. First is the backpack. I've been lugging my laptop home every night and when I plop it in the trunk of the car, it's no big deal. But when I hump it on the Metro and walk up & down 15th St, it's a small problem. Just wearing it makes me sweat big time on my back. And that's when the weather is nice. If I'm humping that back and forth from work come July and August, to say I will be moist will be an understatement. So I either need to come up with a different way to carry it, or . . . . . . I leave it at work. So leaving it at work wouldn't mean that I couldn't' check email at home, but it does mean I couldn't work on other things. So I would have more free time at home. Maybe enough for a personal life? Hmm, that could be an upside. The second issue is the gym. If I think hauling my laptop back and forth via metro is a haze, let's talk about my honking big gym bag. That is so not an option. Plus, the idea of hauling my carcass up beyond the Metro to work out at night after work and then riding home on the Metro all stinky and sweating does not sound appealing at all. So I'm going to need to change my gym routine. But change doesn't have to be bad. The Y is close to my place. Before work and after work I can go to the gym. It won't be as convenient as the Golds in Rosslyn, but I can deal. I think. Hey, it's only a month trial period. We'll see where it ends up.